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FROM THE UNITED NATIONS (*)
NOTE: The webpage I obtained this from was particularly gruesome to read. Some sections, that did not pertain to this topic, (like female genital circumcision, a practice found throughout the Islamic world and taught by one of the 4 major schools of Islamic theology), I could not finish reading myself. It was just too gross. Do not read it if you have a weak stomach, or are disturbed by reports about women being abused. In this paper, I have tried to edit out gruesome details that were not necessary.
"HARMFUL TRADITIONAL PRACTICES AFFECTION THE HEALTH OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN"
"An appraisal of harmful traditional practices and their effects on women and the girl child.
Traditional cultural practices reflect values and beliefs held by members of a community for periods often spanning generations. Every social grouping in the world has specific traditional cultural practices and beliefs, some of which are beneficial to all members, while others are harmful to a specific group, such as women. These harmful traditional practices include female genital mutilation (FGM); forced feeding of women; early marriage; the various taboos or practices which prevent women from controlling their own fertility; nutritional taboos and traditional birth practices; son preference and its implications for the status of the girl child; female infanticide; early pregnancy; and dowry price. Despite their harmful nature and their violation of international human rights laws, such practices persist because they are not questioned and take on an aura of morality in the eyes of those practicing them....
(NOTE: most of these are practiced by the Islamic world).
... Child marriage robs a girl of her childhood-time necessary to develop physically, emotionally and psychologically. In fact, early marriage inflicts great emotional stress as the young woman is removed from her parents' home to that of her husband and in-laws. Her husband, who will invariably be many years her senior, will have little in common with a young teenager. It is with this strange man that she has to develop an intimate emotional and physical relationship. She is obliged to have intercourse, although physically she might not be fully developed....
... Health complications that result from early marriage in the Middle East and North Africa, for example, include the risk of operative delivery, low weight and malnutrition resulting from frequent pregnancies and lactation in the period of life when the young mothers are themselves still growing....
The work of the Committee has also permitted the identification of certain areas where law reform should be undertaken, in both civil and penal areas, such as the minimum age for marriage and establishment of the age of criminal responsibility as being the attainment of puberty. Some States have argued that girls attain their physical maturity earlier, but it is the view of the Committee that maturity cannot simply be identified with physical development when social and mental development are lacking and that, on the basis of such criteria, girls are considered adults before the law upon marriage, thus being deprived of the comprehensive protection ensured by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The International Conference on Population and Development, held at Cairo in September 1994 (see p. 36 below), encouraged Governments to raise the minimum age for marriage. In her preliminary report to the Commission on Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, also recognized that the age of marriage was a factor contributing to the violation of women's rights ...
Early pregnancy can have harmful consequences for both young mothers and their babies. According to UNICEF, no girl should become pregnant before the age of 18 because she is not yet physically ready to bear children. Babies of mothers younger than 18 tend to be born premature and have low body weight; such babies are more likely to die in the first year of life. The risk to the young mother's own health is also greater. Poor health is common among indigent pregnant and lactating women. ...
An additional health risk to young mothers is obstructed labor, which occurs when the baby's head is too big for the orifice of the mother. This provokes vesicovaginal fistulas, especially when an untrained traditional birth attendant forces the baby's head out unduly....
Generally throughout the developing world, the average food intake of pregnant and lactating mothers is far below that of the average male. Cultural practices, including nutritional taboos, ensure that pregnant women are deprived of essential nutriments, and as a result they tend to suffer from iron and protein deficiencies...."
So not only does science teach us that young girls are not mature just because they have had first menarche, but science teaches us that teen, or worse yet, pre-teenage girls should not be bearing children. Their bodies are not ready for it. These type of pregnancies are frequently harmful both to the mother and the child.
However, Islam does not take into account the child's or mother's health. Consequently, this type of abuse occurs throughout the Islamic world. If anyone wants to see just how bad child abuse is in the Islamic world, read the above webpage posted by the United Nations. Most of the barbaric cultural practices listed there are generally practiced in the Islamic world.
MORE PHYSICAL DAMAGE TO YOUNG GIRLS
Modern medicine teaches that a female's body is not fully developed at age 9. Sexual intercourse at that age could damage a female's sexual organs. For instance, at the age of 9 years old, the cervix of the female is yet undeveloped, as are many of the child's sexual organs. Further, intercourse at this age leads to an 80% increased risk in her developing cervical cancer later in life.
"The most crucial and frequently utilized aspect of the condition is a communally recognized right by some individuals to possess, buy, sell, discipline, transport, liberate, or otherwise dispose of the bodies and behavior of other individuals."[1] A critical element is that children of a slave mother automatically become slaves.
Slavery is no longer legal anywhere in the world.[5] Mauritania abolished it in law in 1981[6] and was the last country to do so - see Abolition of slavery timeline. However, in practice slavery continues to exist
I am part of a new generation of man, who accepts all people equally. IMO, we all humans and advancing towards a Type 1 Society where the boundaries are dropped and space travel possible, where our limits are a thing of the past and we all together represent Earth and Humanity as a whole.
If the Islamic world is allowed to view any non Muslim woman or girl as a slave and wish to reinstate the trafficking of innocent girls and women into slavery, then my deepest sympathy for the world at large.
Originally posted by SpeachM1litant
reply to post by foreshadower99
This statement is pure over-generilisation. The idea of sexual slavery is disgusting and we must take every possible step to fight this practice. It is disgusting and any state which permits it is dusgusting. However not all, infact the majority if Arabs/Muslims do not condone this practice. This is like saying that every German should be killed for what happened in WWII.
Originally posted by laiguana
We've seen how women are regarded in Islam. Their women get punished for rape. They get thrown acid on their faces. They get mutilated because they've 'crossed the line' like putting on lipstick or showing up without a male escort. Islam is filth, that's all there really is to say about it. There's nothing good about it, period.